The present invention relates to machines for filling caulking tubes and more particularly the present invention relates to improved adjusting means for filling caulking tubes where the improved adjusting means can be utilized to indicate or set with accuracy the amount of material that is forced into the empty caulking tubes.
Caulking tubes are well known. Such caulking tubes usually comprise a body portion which is a cylindrical body with a plunger cap at the rear end of the caulking tube and a protruding nozzle on the other end of the caulking tube.
When it is desired to utilize the caulking tube, the forward end of the nozzle is cut and the caulking tube is placed in a caulking gun wherein a ram acts against the plunger at the rear end of the caulking tube to force material out of the cut portion of the nozzle at the forward end of the caulking tube. Various types of materials and compositions are packaged in caulking tubes such as, for instance, liquid compositions or compositions with the consistency of grease. Examples of compositions that can be packaged in caulking tubes are grease, latexes, paints and sealant compositions. These are a few of the types of compositions that can be utilized or can be packaged in caulking tubes.
As can be appreciated, sealant compositions are one type of compositions which have wide application in the construction industry and are normally packaged in caulking tubes for use by the construction worker on the job. One type of sealant which is packaged in caulking tubes is silicone compositions. With respect to certain silicone compositions, it is desirable that such compositions be packaged and sold in an anhydrous state and then when the caulking tube seal is broken and the composition is exposed to atmospheric moisture the composition cures to a silicone elastomer. These silicone compositions which have found widespread use as construction sealants and are packaged in caulking tubes are one-component room temperature vulcanizable silicone rubber compositions and such compositions are normally packaged in a caulking tube so as to prevent the contact of atmospheric moisture with the composition except when it is desired to cure the composition.
As the case may be, there is shown in FIG. 1 of the instant application the improved caulking tube filling apparatus of the instant case. Such apparatus, as can be seen in FIG. 1, generally comprises a drive means for driving the main drive shaft over which there is driven a conveyor belt containing empty caulking tubes. The main drive shaft which is located at the lower part of the apparatus also drives through a lower drive lever which reciprocates in a yoke which forms a portion of the instant invention; and an upper drive lever which reciprocates six piston and six cylinders. As will be explained in the instant case, material from the reservoirs at the top of the apparatus, as can be seen in FIG. 1, flows by gravity feed and by the suction created in the six pistons and cylinders into the cavities in the six cylinders when the pistons retract and then when the pistons are forced into the cylinders the composition in the cylinders is forced through the passage tubes, shown in the drawing, onto the empty caulking tubes located directly beneath the passage tubes.
In another part of the apparatus of the instant case, there is a mechanism for fitting and forcing plunger caps into the rear end of the filled caulking tubes, six at a time, so as to seal the compositions in the caulking tubes. It should be noted that the apparatus of the instant case fills six caulking tubes at a time with the composition of the instant case and that the conveyor belt, by linkage which is not shown, presents six caulking tubes at a time under the passage tubes and by synchronization which is well known in the art, the composition is emptied from the six cylinders into the passage tubes and into the six empty caulking tubes at the appropriate time so as to fill the six caulking tubes with composition such as will be explained herein below.
The amount of material that is forced out of the six cylinders into the caulking tubes depends on the amount of travel in the reciprocation of the upper drive lever and the linkage shown in the right hand side of FIG. 1. The amount of reciprocation in the upper drive lever of FIG. 1, determines the amount of reciprocation of the six pistons in the six cylinders and accordingly determines the amount of composition that is imparted into the empty caulking tubes.
It should be noted that there were various ways and means in the prior art caulking tube filling machines and other types of machines for determining the amount of travel in the upper drive levers or arms of FIG. 1. Cantilever adjusting means were used for adjusting such linkages at one end of the machine, however, such cantilever means for adjusting the amount of travel in the upper drive arm or lever caused inaccuracies in terms of the filling of the caulking tubes since the cantilever was subject to deflection and accordingly gave an inaccurate adjustment to the travel of the upper drive lever. Accordingly, some innovators in the field put some cantilever beam arrangements on both sides of the machine. However, such caused difficulties in two respects.
First, the cantilever adjustment means was still subject to deflection because of the cantilever nature of the adjusting mechanism and secondly, it was difficult to synchronize the adjusting means on one side of the apparatus with the adjusting means on the other side of the apparatus.
Another means for measuring the adjustment of the travel of such upper drive lever or reciprocation of the upper drive lever was to use a plate with a screw. However, it was found that with the amount of space permitted for the screw, it was not possible to get a screw of sufficient diameter to absorb the stresses, and accordingly, the screws and the plates that were utilized in such adjusting means would fail because the screw would be unable to take the pressure that was generated by the machine.
It should be noted that in this respect that caulking tube filling machines are normally utilized to fill compositions such as latexes, greases and other compositions being either of low viscosity or high viscosity but not being of the consistency of silicone compositions. It has been found that silicone compositions will tax the maximum load requirements of typical caulking tube filling machines and will create many difficulties because of the high viscosity of the silicone compositions and accordingly the high amount of stresses that are built in the machine when such prior art machines are utilized to fill caulking tubes with silicone compositions.
Accordingly, in addition to the fact that the adjusting means of the prior art machines were inadequate to adjust the reciprocation of the upper drive lever when the machine was utilized to fill caulking tubes with silicone compositions, it was found that such apparatus and specifically the linkage means similar to the one shown at the right of FIG. 1, would result in undue wear in the moving part of the apparatus or undue wear would be created in the moving parts of the linkage means shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the bronze, steel and other types of machine shafts and arms would normally be greased or lubricated with various lubricating oils and greases would still unduly wear very rapidly due to the high load placed on the machine when it was utilized to fill silicone compositions in caulking tubes. Accordingly, it was highly desirable to find means which would reduce the wear between moving parts in the linkage means shown to the right of FIG. 1.
As an example of the additional load that is necessary or work that has to be done to fill caulking tubes with silicone compositions as compared to other prior art compositions, it should be noted that a three-fourths horsepower motor could be utilized to run a prior art caulking tube filling machine for filling greases and latexes in caulking tubes, but a five horsepower motor is required to run a caulking tube filling machine for filling silicone compositions into caulking tubes.
Accordingly, it is one object of the present invention to provide an improved adjusting means for adjusting the travel of the feed means which will determine with accuracy the amount of composition that will be fed into the empty caulking tube in the caulking tube filling machine.
It is an additional object of the present invention to provide for a sturdy and very accurate adjusting means in the caulking tube filling machine for feeding liquid compositions into the caulking tubes where the adjusting means determines with accuracy and precision the amount of travel of the pistons and the cylinders in the feed means for feeding liquid compositions into empty caulking tubes.
It is yet an additional object of the present invention to provide for a sturdy and accurate adjusting means for determining the amount of travel or reciprocation of a driven lever which is driven by a cam and lever means which amount of travel is adjusted with precision and which amount of travel of the driven arm is determined with precision and accuracy.
It is yet still an additional object of the present invention to provide for means in linkages in caulking tube filling machines for reducing the wear between the moving parts in the linkages.
These and other objects of the present invention are accomplished by means of the apparatus set forth in the Figures below.